Tape cassette holder

ABSTRACT

A holder for storing protective cases for tape cassettes is provided. The holder comprises a rectangular enclosure which is sealed off at one end by a resilient wall member and is at least partially sealed off at its other end by a resilient retaining wall member. The enclosure is adapted to quite snugly receive the number of protective cases to be stored since additional room need not be allowed to permit one to reach into the enclosure to effect removal of one of the protective cases. Such removal is readily effected by pushing on the resilient wall member and forcing the desired protective case to at least partially move out of the enclosure so that it can be grasped.

United States Patent 1191 Loss [ Oct. 9, 1973 [22] Filed:

[ TAPE CASSETTE HOLDER [76] Inventor: Michael Loss, 1879 Manor D12,

Union, NJ. 07083 Jan. 28, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 110,739

[52] US. Cl. 206/.83, 206/56 A, 206/DIG. 36 [51] Int. Cl. A45c 11/28 [58] Field of Search 40/10 D, 27.5, 323;

206/.8, .82-.84, 42, 45.31, 56 A, 56 AC, 65 R, 59 E, 78 R, 78 B, 79, 81) R, DIG. 20,

DIG. 36

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,439,390 4/1948 Jablon 206/79 UX 3,179,246 4/1965 Rosenberg, Jr. 206/78 R UX 912,656 2/1909 Engstrom 206/78 R 2,860,774 11/1958 Ball 2,258,777 10/1941 Lermer 206/42 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 898,580 10/1953 Germany 206/56 A Primary Examiner -Samuel B. Rothberg Assistant Examiner-Steven E. Lipman Attorney-Lerner, David & Littenberg [5 7] ABSTRACT A holder for storing protective cases for tape cassettes is provided. The holder comprises a rectangular enclosure which is sealed off at one end by a resilient wall member and is at least partially sealed off at its other end by a resilient retaining wall member. The enclosure is adapted to quite snugly receive the number of protective cases to be stored since additional room need not be allowed to permit one to reach into the enclosure to effect removal of one of the protective cases. Such removal is readily effected by pushing on the resilient wall member and forcing the desired protective case to at least partially move out of the enclosure so that it can be grasped.

10 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures mmmnm ems sum 10F 2 N. '30 A F1614 INVENTOR MICHAEL L055 340 BY LERNER,DAVID 8 LITTENBERG ATTORNEYS TAPE CASSETTE HOLDER FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to holders for storing a plurality of substantially uniformly shaped articles, and particularly to a holder for storing a plurality of tape cassettes each of which is stored in its own individual protective case.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The holder art is of course quite old and is also relatively crowded. For example, each of U. S. Pat. Nos. 2,761,558; 2,821,037 and 2,968,882 teaches a different type of holder for storing a plurality of substantially flat articles. However, as in any art, there is always room for improvement and this generally becomes evident whenever a new type of article is developed. Such is the case with tape cassettes.

It is quite common today to find tape cassette collections numbering in the hundreds. In fact, in addition to the usual commercial tape cassettes, college courses are now often recorded on tape cassettes. Each individual tape cassette is normally stored in a protective case, such as the type taught in U. S. Pat. No. 3,532,211. The rather bulky shape of these proteptive cases, especially as compared with the shape of record album holders, has created substantial'storage problems. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the sizes of protective cases of different manufacturers differ slightly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a holder in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view ofa second embodiment of a holder in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of a holder in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 4 is aperspective view of afourthembodiment of a holder in accordance with the presentinvention; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a fifth embodiment of a holder in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational cross-sectional view of the holder of FIG. 5 taken along lines 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a sixth embodiment of a holder in accordance with the presentinvention; and FIG. 8 is a side elevational partial cross-sectional view of the holder shown in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in whichlike reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout, there is shown in FIG. 1 a first embodiment of a holder in accordance with the present invention. Holder 20 comprises a pair of holding members 22 and 24 hingedly connected together in book-like fashion by adhesive tape 26. The receptecles 22 and 24are identical and each comprise a substantially resilient flexible back member 28 (only one of which can be seen). Back member 28 may be made of transparent plastic material, such as, for example, polypropylene.

An article is disposed in receptable 22. For purposes of illustration, the article shown is a protective case for a tape cassette of the type taught in U. S. Pat. No. 3,532,211. While tape cassettes are generally all substantially identically shaped, protective cases of different manufacturers differ slightly in one or more of their dimensions. It has been found that the protective cases of different manufacturers vary by as much as one-fourth inch in one or more of their dimensions. The present holder can accommodate such differences while still substantially utilizing the minimum storage space possible.

A unitary peripheral wall member 32 defines a rectangularly shaped enclosure for snugly receiving article 30. It will be appreciated that a unitary peripheral wall member need not be employed and that the shape of any such peripheral wall member should be such as to snugly or closely receive the periphery of an article to be stored. Peripheral wall member 32 may be made from any suitable rigid material, such as wood, cardboard, etc., and preferably is made of one of the types of foam-like plastic materials.

Resilient wall member 28 is connected to peripheral wall member 32 and fully seals off one endof the enclosure formed thereby. A strip of substantially resilient flexible material 34, such as a strip of polypropylene, partially seals off the other end of the enclosure. Again, it will be noted that article 30 is quite snugly received within the enclosure. In fact, if one wished to remove article 30, it would be asmost impossible to do so without the use of a knife-like instrument which could fit between the inner periphery of peripheral wall member 32 and the outer periphery of article 30.

To insert article 30 intoone of the holdin g members 22 and24, one end of article 30 is inserted betweenthe strip 34 and wall member 28 and moved downwards into engagement with the bottom portion of peripheral wall member 32 as viewed in FIG. 1. The remainder of article 30is then pushedinto its stored position shown in FIG. 1. To remove article 30, the top portion thereof (as viewed in FIG. 1) is moved out of the enclosure defined by peripheral wall member 32 by pressing wall member 28 inwards. Such movement causes a portion of article 30 to be displaced sufficiently for one to grasp the sides of article 30 and thus remove it. Strip 34 accommodates such pivoting movement of article 30.

Because ofthe snug fit, the minimum space necessary for holding article 30 is utilized. Further, because of the cooperation ofwall 28 andstrip 34 in holding an article within the enclosure defined by peripheral wall member 32, the dimensions of article 30 may vary slightly and the article still securely held while space utilization is approximately at a maximum.

The use of a transparent flexible wall member is particularly advantageous when storing tape cassettes since the protective cases for such cassettes usually already have a legend which identifies the subject matter recorded on the tape cassettes contained therein. Thus, a separate legend need not be placed on the holder 20 though one would be preferred where a number of book-like holders 20 are to be placed on the shelf and one wishes to read off of the bind-er what-is contained in each holder. An identifying list would then be placed on each binder.

A second embodiment of a holder 40 in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. 2. Holder 40 differs from holder 20 only in that the strip 34has been replaced with four corner strip members 42, 44, 46 and 48. This type of construction is somewhat more difficult to deal with when inserting or removing articles but has the slight advantage that there is no danger of an article falling out of holder 40 when the partially closed opening is facing downwards.

The present invention is particularly advantageously employed in holders adapted to hold a plurality of articles. Such a holder is shown in FIG. 3 in which a third embodiment of a holder 60 in accordance with the present invention is shown. Holder 60 is adapted to hold six articles 30, four of which are shown in FIG. 3. The bottommost three articles 30 are received in an enclosure 62 partially defined by peripheral wall member 32 and the bottom of a shelf 34a. A second substantially resilient flexible strip member 36 forms with the remainder of peripheral wall member 32 and the top of shelf 34a an enclosure 64 which is identical to enclosure 62.

It will be noted that the three articles 30 in enclosure 62 are quite snugly received therein and, in fact, could not be removed without the aid of back wall member 28 or a knife-like instrument. It will also be noted that the article 30 in enclosure 64 is quite snugly received between back wall member 28 and strip member 36 as well as between the top of peripheral wall member 32 and the shelf 34a. This fit will prevent accidental dislodgment of article 30 even when holder 62 is tilted slightly forwards. Though the article 30 in enclosure 64 could be grasped and removed, it is still simpler to utilize the flexibility of back wall member 28 when removing this article.

A fourth embodiment of a holder 80 in accordance with the present invention is shown. Holder 80 is adapted to hold twelve articles 30, six of which are shown in FIG. 4. The bottommost four articles 30 are received in an enclosure 82 partially defined by peripheral wall member 32 and the bottom of shelf 34a. The remainder of holder 80 is divided into two additional enclosures 84 and 86 which are identical to enclosure 82.

A fifth embodiment of a holder 100 in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. and 6 and is for storing coins 102. Three separate enclosures 104, 106 and 108 are formed by shelves 110 and 112 with peripheral wall member 32. Substantially resilient flexible strip members 114 are attached along their short edges and their bottom edges to the adjacent peripheral wall member 32 or shelf 110, or shelf 112, respectively.

Strip members 114 are unattached along their top edges. Coins 102 are inserted or removed from the enclosures 104, 106 and 108 through the openings formed betweenthe tops of strips 114 and their associated top of peripheral wall member 32, bottom of shelf 110 and bottom of shelf 112, respectively. Such insertion and removal is facilitated by the beveled edges 1 16 formed on the bottom of the top portion of peripheral wall member 32, shelf 110 and shelf 112, respectively.

A sixth embodiment of a holder 120 in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Holder 120 is especially adapted for retaining reels 122 of computer tape 124 and the like. It will be noted that peripheral wall member 32 of holder 120 defines a circular enclosure adapted to snugly receive reel 122. A substantially resilient flexible strip member 121 partially closes the open end of holder 120. In this regard, it will be appreciated that the strip members and the like in all of the embodiments limit their respective openings sufficiently so that the articles must be pivoted to be removed from the respective holders.

A foam rubber abutment 126 attached to the inner periphery of peripheral wall member 32 serves to prevent unravelling of tape 124 of a stored reel 122.

It will be appreciated that the present description has been made by way of example only and is not intended as a limitation to the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, it will be appreciated that the back member 28 and stop members and the like can be made of flexible material, such as polypropylene, which is also substantially resilient. Whether the material is defined as being flexible, substantially resilient, resilient, etc. is unimportant. What is important is that the material be movable and substantially return to its initial position.

What is claimed is:

l. A holder for storing an article which article has at least one pair of substantially flat, parallel walls, said holder comprising four side walls defining a rim including a substantially open front portion and a substantially open back portion, a flexible wall member connected to said rim and completely closing off said back portion of said rim, a retaining wall member connected to said rim and partially closing off said front portion to leave an open space extending vertically a distance sufficient to allow an article to be inserted or removed therethrough, said rim and wall members defining a compartment, said rim of said compartment having a depth sufficiently large so that the article stored in said compartment is retained therein without extending beyond the rim thereof, said flexible wall member being adapted to be moved a sufficient distance toward said partially closed-off front portion to displace at least a portion of a stored article through said open space and away from said rim a sufficient distance so that at least a portion of the edge of said article is clear of said rim and can be grasped, said holder comprising at least two rims, flexible wall members, and retaining members forming at least two separate receptacles, with said separate receptacles being connected together to from a multiple article holder.

2. A holder according to claim 1, wherein said retaining wall member is made of movable material.

3. A holder according to claim 2, wherein said retaining wall member comprises a movable strip of material which is both sufficiently rigid to retain an article within the holder and sufficiently flexible to accommodate movement of an article due to movement of said flexible wall member.

4. A holder according to claim 3, wherein said flexible wall member is substantially transparent.

5. A holder according to claim 4, wherein said flexible wall member is made of plastic.

6. A holder according to claim 5, wherein said flexible wall member is made of polypropylene.

7. A holder according to claim 1, wherein said rim defines a substantially rectangular enclosure, said flexible wall member seals off one side of said rectangular enclosure, and said retaining wall member partially seals off the opposite side of said rectangular enclosure.

8. A holder according to claim 7, wherein said separate receptacles are connected together in book-like form.

9. A holder according to claim 1 especially adapted for substantially flat thin articles, said retaining wall member comprising a flexible cover member connected to said rim, a portion of the periphery of said flexible cover member being unattached to said rim and adapted to be displaced from said rim to form an opening permitting the insertion or removal of an article from said holder.

10. A holder according to claim 9, wherein said articles are coins. 

1. A holder for storing an article which article has at least one pair of substantially flat, parallel walls, said holder comprising four side walls defining a rim including a substantially open front portion and a substantially open back portion, a flexible wall member connected to said rim and completely closing off said back portion of said rim, a retaining wall member connected to said rim and partially closing off said front portion to leave an open space extending vertically a distance sufficient to allow an article to be inserted or removed therethrough, said rim and wall members defining a compartment, said rim of said compartment having a depth sufficiently large so that the article stored in said compartment is retained therein without extending beyond the rim thereof, said flexible wall member being adapted to be moved a sufficient distance toward said partially closed-off front portion to displace at least a portion of a stored article through said open space and away from said rim a sufficient distance so that at least a portion of the edge of said article is clear of said rim and can be grasped, said holder comprising at least two rims, flexible wall members, and retaining members forming at least two separate receptacles, with said separate receptacles being connected together to from a multiple article holder.
 2. A holder according to claim 1, wherein said retaining wall member is made of movable material.
 3. A holder according to claim 2, wherein said retaining wall member comprises a movable strip of material which is both sufficiently rigid to retain an article within the holder and sufficiently flexible to accommodate movement of an article due to movement of said flexible wall member.
 4. A holder according to claim 3, wherein said flexible wall member is substantially transparent.
 5. A holder according to claim 4, wherein said flexible wall member is made of plastic.
 6. A holder according to claim 5, wherein said flexible wall member is made of polypropylene.
 7. A holder according to claim 1, wherein said rim defines a substantially rectangular enclosure, said flexible wall member seals off one side of said rectangular enclosure, and said retaining wall member partially seals off the opposite side of said rectangular enclosure.
 8. A holder according to claim 7, wherein said separate receptacles are connected together in book-like form.
 9. A holder according to claim 1 especially adapted for substantially flat thin articles, said retaining wall member comprising a flexible cover member connected to said rim, a portion of the periphery of said flexible cover member being unattached to said rim and adapted to be displaced from said rim to form an opening permitting the insertion or removal of an article from said holder.
 10. A holder according to claim 9, wherein said articles are coins. 